Saint Raymond of Penyafort

Raymond was born around 1175 at the castle of Penyafort near Barcelona. He taught law at Bologna and in Barcelona, and in 1222 joined the new Order of Preachers. His handbook for confessors, the Summa de casibus, helped priests to guide penitents with justice and mercy for centuries.

Called to Rome by Pope Gregory IX, he gathered the papal decrees into a single collection, the Decretals, published in 1234, which remained a foundation of Church law until 1917. In 1238 he was elected master general of the Dominicans, but resigned two years later to return to preaching. He supported the work of the Mercedarians for captives and encouraged the study of Arabic and Hebrew for dialogue with Muslims and Jews. He died in Barcelona on January 6, 1275, and was canonized in 1601.

A famous legend says that he crossed the sea from Majorca to Barcelona on his Dominican cloak, using it as a sail. His tomb is in the Cathedral of Barcelona, and Catalan Catholics and lawyers in Spain and Latin America honor him as the patron of canon law.